RIPPLE SALVO… #425… FOR: LEO THORSNESS, “Kingfish 1” and “Boss Weasel,” and JIM GRAHAM, “Battlecry 314″… On this day, 3 May 2017 one of the bravest of the brave passed away…Leo Thorsness, Congressional Medal of Honor, rests in peace. On this day, fifty years ago, on 4 May 1967, a Happy Warrior and brother-in-arms, LTJG Jim Graham, died on the battlefield, “glory gained and duty done.” Humble Host has a few thoughts, but first…
Good Morning: Day FOUR HUNDRED TWENTY-FIVE of a return to the skies of North Vietnam and Rolling Thunder…
4 MAY 1967… HEADLINES and leads from The New York Times on a sunny Thursday in the Big Apple…
Page 1: “Marines Repulse Northern Troops In Battle, Kill 78 In Repelling Enemy”… “Hill 881 South, South Vietnam, May 3. United States Marines fighting their way toward the summit of Hill 881 North today repulsed North Vietnamese who had penetrated their perimeter near the summit. But at night fall the marines had failed to take the hill, the last enemy held ground that threatens Khe Sanh Valley in the extreme northwest corner of South Vietnam. A Marine Corps spokesman said 22 United States Marines had been killed and that 78 North Vietnamese soldiers were killed. (death determined by a Marine boot on every chest) In 11 days of fighting 118 Marines were killed in action and 336 wounded. Enemy casualties were 374 KIA. A Marine said this fight could be an all summer affair.”… Page 1: “Johnson Discerns Flaw in The Draft …asks for better representation o minorities on draft boards. The President’s appeal made in a brief speech to assembled State directors of the Selective Service was an oblique but unmistakable reference to the token or nonexistent representation of Negroes on draft boards in general but particularly in Southern states.”... Page 1: “Johnson Says No Build-up Is Imminent in Vietnam”…”President Johnson said today that he had no imminent plan to increase the American fighting strength in Vietnam substantially, as his commander there was reported to have recommended. The President said,’I do not consider anything immediately imminent, in the next few days or even the next few weeks.”... Page 1: “GOP Chiefs Back President on War”…”President Johnson’s Vietnam policy was given solid backing by Top Republican Congressional leaders today, but their support failed to silence a new round of Senate debate on the war. The House Republicans leader, Gerald R. Ford of Michigan lined up with the Senate Republican leader, Senator Everett Dirksen in rejecting sharp questioning of Mr. Johnson’s war leadership.”… Page 1: “Joint Chiefs Oppose NATO Cut”... as militarily unjustifyable and politically harmful to the Atlantic Alliance.”… Page 6: “Madrid Expels Three U.S. CoEds After Antiwar Protests”… and burning of American flag at University of Madrid. The Coeds were put on a train and escorted to the French border.”…
Page 11: “China Bids armed Forces Bar U.S. Inroads”... ‘Communist China called on its armed forces today to maintain high vigilance against military provocation by the United Sates following an alleged bombing attack by American aircraft on Chinese territory. ‘Never relax your fighting will and remain always ready to meet and crush any surprise attack by United States imperialism and its accomplices.’ “… Page 19: “Tribunal In Stockholm”... “Heard reports of U.S. bombing attacks on civilian targets. United States bombers have systematically attacked the North Vietnamese system of dams and dikes in addition to other civilian targets, according to Dr. Abraham Behar, a French radiologist at the war crimes tribunal sponsored by Bertrand Russell. The North Vietnam water control system of 2,480 miles of canals, dikes and dams that the Tribunal was told had been attacked 1500 times through 1966.”…When Secretary of State Dean Rusk was asked to comment on this , he said: ‘I don’t want to get into an argument with 94-year old British philosopher.’ “
A few notes from President Johnson’s 3 May Press Conference. Question: “Mr. President do you consider Martin Luther King’s urging of young men to not answer the draft call outside the bounds of reasonable dissent with your Vietnam policy.” Answer: “We regret when any person asks the young people of the country to refuse to serve what we believe to be the needs of the country. We regret it very much.”….Dr. King response: “The Selective Service act itself gives the right of all men who are conscientious objectors to decline to serve. I have not recommended any civil disobedience. I have just urged that men who find the war unjust should not serve.”…
OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER… GONE WEST: COLONEL LEO THORSNESS... Humble Host blogs of 19 April and 30 April have told some of the Leo Thorsness story and you will find his mark on several other pages on the Rolling Thunder Remembered site. My thoughts this evening zero in on the prose of one of Leo’s commanders--Colonel Jack Broughton- who included Leo’s Medal of Honor flight of 19 April 1967 in his book “Thud Ridge.”… Here is the way an award citation reads when a fighter pilot writes it: I quote Broughton from “Thud Ridge” …
“Leo was in charge of our Wild Weasel crews that flew the F-105Fs and his business was clobbering Sam sites… Leo was good and I used him extensively as my liaison with this specialized bunch of experts and what Leo said, they did…Leo’s best single mission was when he took on most of North Vietnam all by himself. He spotted a Sam site and knocked it out in a hurry, moved to the next Sam site down the pike and dumped that one also, and the route of the strike force was well defined with Sams and their supporting components exploding on the ground. The plaintive wail of a pair of beepers told him that his wingman had been hit and that two weasels were in their chutes. He spotted a Mig intent on shooting the helpless pilots hanging in their chutes–they play dirty up there–closed to almost collision range and blew the vulture out of the sky. With the Migs wingman on his tail, Leo desperate for fuel, outraced the pursuer as he streaked southward for an aerial refueling. As darkness approached he returned, alone, found a flight of four Migs over the downed crew, flew directly into the middle of them and scattered them, shooting down yet another Mig. When the rescue proved hopeless he found there were no airborne tankers to refuel him and only through his own skill was he able to limp through the black night, penetrate the thunderstorms and land at an emergency base with little other than fumes in fuel tanks.”
Colonel LEO THORSNESS, the bravest of the brave, has gone west, throw a nickel on the grass… oohrah…
4 May 1967… OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER… New York Times (5 May reporting 4 May ops) Page 21: “49th MIG Shot Down”... “American pilots have shot down their 49th MIG fighter over North Vietnam…the kill was credited to Colonel Robin Olds of Washington making him the first Air Force pilot to score two air victories in the war...the action took place in 20 minutes of aerial combat 20 miles northwest of Hanoi. Colonel Olds and other pilots flying F-4C Phantom were protecting F-105 Thunderchiefs during a bomb attack on Hanoi’s electrical transformer seven miles north of the city. Colonel Olds said he used an air-to-air missile to down the MIG-21. In other activity Air Force pilots sighted a 100 truck convoy infiltrating through Mugia Pass. There was no further info on the results of the strike on the convoy.”
“Vietnam: Air Losses”(Chis Hobson) There were two fixed wing aircraft lost in Southeast Asia on 4 May 1967…
(1) MAJOR EDWARD TOWNLEY, USMC, was flying n F-8E of the VMF(AW)-232 Red Devils and MAG-11 out of Danang on strike on a ford 35 miles west of Danang. His aircraft was apparently hit by ground fire during a bombing run or recovery and became engulfed in flames. MAJOR TOWNLEY was able to eject and was rescued to fly and fight again…
(2) LTJG JAMES SCOTT GRAHAM was flying an A-4C of the VA-113 Stingers embarked in USS Enterprise and perished while executing strike on a SAM site northeast of Thanh Hoa… Chris Hobbs’ basic narrative of Jim Graham’s final flight has been edited to include facts provided by members of the flight and CINCPACFLT records…
A division of four ATTACK SQUADON 113 A-4C Skyhawks was assigned to attack a SAM site five miles northeast of Thanh Hoa and close to the village of Sam Son. Flight lead LCDR GEORGE WALES led LTJG JAY GREENE, LCDR TED “CASH” BRONSON, and LTJG JIM GRAHAM into the target area coming down from about 18,000-feet to hit a rollin altitude of 12,000 with the flight taking a few seconds interval for the single pass division attack on the SAM site target with each pilot tracking a specific target in the site. Four A-4Cs rolled in for 45-degree diving attacks through light 37/57-mm anti-aircraft opposition. Bomb release at 5,000-feet, recovery at 2,000–2,500-feet. Three Skyhawks recovered and called off. The division’s 20 Mk-82s hit on the site. Flight lead turned back and saw LTJG GRAHAM in his parachute descending close aboard the target. As he flew by him at 800-feet LTJG GRAHAM waved with his left arm/hand. The chute came down in trees bordering the village of Kien Thon. LTJG GRAHAM was not heard from or seen again.
Jim went down on his 192nd combat mission having completed a full tour VA-113 on USS Kitty Hawk prior to the USS Enterprise cruise. He was carried as Missing in Action for the duration of the war with the hope that he would show up as a POW. Not to be. His remains were returned to his family in Pennsylvania in August 1985 without further information.
Eighteen officers from the Attack Squadron 113 “Stingers,” who had cruised and flown with Jim in 1965-1967 were on hand for a beautiful 1985 Memorial Service at the National Park at Valley Forge, which included a ceremony in a wooded alcove where Vietnam POW and MIA bracelets have been melted together to form a mammoth rock of remembrance. Then a funeral procession of 75 autos and the burial of Jim. Memorable. But most memorable: a reception at the Graham family home. Brothers. Together with Jim’s family to celebrate the life of one of us. To care and share. And to console and share Jim stories with the family and their neighbors… It was a day to remember forever…
So also was a day fifty years ago: 4 May 1967. That was the day Jim Graham gave a last wave goodbye…
Lest we forget… Bear